Titchmarsh hails Harrogate garden centre's 'valuable' 40-year work

Garden centre Horticap provides valuable work experience to people with learning disabilities

A garden centre which provides work experience for people with learning disabilities has celebrated its 40th anniversary with a special guest.

Set up in 1984, Horticap, in Harrogate, has offered horticultural training to dozens of students over the decades.

On Wednesday, the charity celebrated the milestone with a visit from its TV celebrity patron Alan Titchmarsh.

Mr Titchmarsh, from Ilkley, said he was "proud" of Horticap's work over 40 years.

Horticap started out in a muddy four-acre field, with an old van and a handful of students who sold dried flowers to local florists.

Since then, the site at Bluecoat Wood Nurseries on Otley Road, has flourished, with 55 students now on its books and boasting a garden centre and cafe.

Every day, up to 25 students are on site, learning new skills and meeting customers, with support from staff and volunteers.

Alan Titchmarsh has been Horticap's patron for more than two decades

Student Alicia said Horticap "just makes me very happy".

"I come here on a Monday and Thursday. I look forward to coming here," she added.

Operations manager Phillip Airey said Horticap was about "so much more than horticulture".

"We are just super proud of what our students have achieved and what they then take back home into the community - and that's what's special about Horticap," he said.

TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh, who has been Horticap's patron for over 20 years, said watching the charity "literally grow" had been "a delight".

"It's such valuable work they do, working with people with learning disabilities and transforming their lives and the lives of everybody around," Mr Titchmarsh said.

"And also, they grow such beautiful plants."

Mr Titchmarsh added that this year he was also celebrating his own milestone.

"I'm celebrating 60 years of being a gardener for a living, from leaving school at 15 and becoming an apprentice gardener," he said.

"I have never regretted it, even when I get rained on."